An increased number of calls to Ottawa bylaw officers could help their case for adding more resources when city council receives a consultant’s review of the department later this year.

There were 80,639 requests handled by the bylaw department in 2017, an eight per cent increase over the previous year.

The two call types that stand out are parking (15 per cent increase) and property standards (20 per cent increase).

Bylaw Chief Roger Chapman cautioned that the department hasn’t yet done a deep analysis on the calls but he said there were definitely more calls last year related to waste and long grass, likely because of the wet weather in the spring and early summer.

There was a spike in calls last spring because of flooding, with several homeowners dragging out damaged pieces of their houses and ruined possessions to the roadside, leading to complaints.

For neighbours who like their communities in tiptop shape, it was a simple call to 311 to trigger a bylaw investigation.

“Because the amount of rain we had, grass was growing like crazy,” Chapman said.

(It’s worth noting that much of the bylaw department’s work is fuelled by complaints; officers aren’t cruising neighbourhoods measuring the height of grass blades).

In some cases, property owners with the offending grass had to reason with bylaw officers because it was simply too wet to cut. The officers are usually sympathetic and will work with the homeowners to resolve the complaint, Chapman said.

Chapman said there was a 16 per cent increase in parking complaints related to blocked laneways last year and it’s likely that many happened overnight. Ottawa police stopped responding to bylaw matters in April 2016, forcing bylaw officers to pick up the load.

There were also big increases in calls for vehicles parked in no-parking areas and vehicles parked beyond the time limit. Many of those could be attributed to Ottawa 2017 events, Chapman said.

The bylaw department is operating at capacity, the chief said.

“There’s no secret. We’re at our peak right now. To take on anything additional right now, it’s going to have impact on our operations, for sure,” Chapman said.

KPMG completed a service review of the bylaw department last year. City staff are working on a report for council with consideration given to KPMG’s 11 recommendations, which have not yet been released publicly. The consultant’s analysis will be tabled with the staff report targeted for a community and protective services committee meeting in June.

Some recommendations are already in the works, such as modernizing the dispatch service.

KPMG stacked the Ottawa bylaw department up against those in other municipalities.

“The comparison is, we’re understaffed, there’s no doubt about it,” Chapman said, noting that Ottawa’s bylaw department provides a uniquely high level of service compared to other cities.

“I still say we’re the most efficient when you look at cost per call and they way we do business.”

Chapman said he knows he can’t come to council with a request to add, for example, two dozen officers to the department, so staff will need to be creative.

“We may be asking for additional resources. At the same time, we’re also looking at other gaps in our service,” he said. “Is there a business that we’re in that we shouldn’t be in? Is there technology we can leverage? Are there other ways we can better our business?”

The department has had an “alternate response program” in place for about five years, sending letters to homeowners when there’s a complaint made against them. The letters have resolved the issues in 75 per cent of the complaints.

The first year of the program the department sent about 1,200 letters. Last year the department sent out almost 6,000.

“We’re trying to handle our increase in calls by finding other ways to do business,” Chapman said.

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